A Tale of One and Three Quarter Eagles
by Bonkersfogel
Summary: A 3/4 eagle (1/4 raven), Epyphanises, is acompanied by Eris and their friends on various adventures. /note from author: I will upload at least one chapter a week for you guys. also, let me know if you spot any continuity errors and I will try to fix or explain them.
1. Chapter 1

Dust filled the air over the smoking field of a great battle. Both sides, Lions and Crocs by the looks of it, had cleared out many hours ago. Now, all that remained were a few circling Ravens, looking for material to salvage amongst the wreckage. But there is also another figure. A tall eagle with crimson red feather tips on his wings leaned on his golden hammer, in a deep conversation with Razar.  
"I will make you a good deal, yes? You help us clean up this merchandise, and you get to keep five percent. Does that seem fair, my friend?"  
"I'm sorry, Razar", the eagle replied. " But I was here to create wreckage, not to sort through it. Besides, I'm tired and I need to rest my wings. Some other time, maybe?"  
"Of course, Epyphanises, my most valued customer! Have a good flight, yes?"  
The friendly eagle gave Razar a grin, followed by a salute. Then he took off into the sky, Heading for Mt. Cavora.

But what Epyphanises did not know is that Razar had not been there only to scavenge. He had been hired by the Croc king's sister, Crooler, to find out how that shifty mercenary eagle managed to pass Mt. Cavora's protective force field. It was unknown to even the wisest of eagle scientists how he did it. Razar ha been sent to bring back as much information as possible, because the Crocs wanted to tap into the Chi reserves.

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Rogon was unsure of what to do. He did not want to disappoint Eris, but he had to let her know. The problem was that he had overheard her calling him "simple" in a conversation with Laval, so he had decided to move on. He had already found a good-looking female rhino, named Rhibena, who had expressed interest in him. He decided to send Eris a very apologetic letter, which did not mention what he had heard so that she wouldn't feel bad.

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As he soared through the calm skies, laced here and there by a few white wisps of cloud, Epyphanises thought he heard something coming from the top of a tall tree, but it came from too far away for him to make out what it was. He decided to fly down and take a closer look.

The quarter raven landed on a branch overlooking a woodland trail. Below him, some gorillas walked by, "duding and bogusing" their way through a conversation about the latest Speedorz race. Just as he was about to take off, he thought he heard a sob. It was coming from a bush near the trail.

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Eris had received Rogon's letter and, as usual when she got emotional, she immediately burst into tears. Rogon had friendzoned her? After all they had been through together? She flew out of her window and sailed through the air, sobbing and heading for the forest. She found a comfortable looking bush and landed face first in it, still crying.

After a few hours, she had pretty much gotten a hold of herself, and just wanted someone to talk to. She thought about flying over to Laval, but he had always secretly mocked her for her relationship with Rogon. She heard a group of gorillas passing, but they seemed busy. Oh how she wished she had soneone to talk to!

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Epyphanises carefully sneaked up to the bush, his hammer 'Mjoelnir' raised, in case it was needed. He bent the branches aside slowly, so that whoever or whatever was inside wouldn't notice. But when he did see who was inside, he dropped the hammer in disbelief.  
"Eris?" he enquired, still shocked, "is that you? What are you doing here?"  
Eris was startled by this surprise visit from a fried that he had not seen in years.  
"Piff? Wow, it's been a while! The last time we met was when you-" she cut herself short, not wanting to remind herself and Epyphanises of the fateful day.  
"-Left the tribe?" The quarter raven finished her sentence for her. "Wow, that was four years ago. So what brings you so far away from the spire?"  
"I-"(she hesitated for a while, wondering if she could trust him and if she should tell him the whole story, but she did not see any harm in it, so she told him everything).  
Epyphanises was left speechless by the amount of emotion that he heard in the young eagle's voice.  
"... But I think we have both moved on successfully. I guess it was just a small crush" Eris finished, blushing bright red and wiping a tear off her cheek. She had gone to school with Epyphanises and had always had a thing for him, and she basically just told him she was vacant.  
"Wow, that's quite some story. Are you sure you're gonna be alright?"  
"Yes, I suppose so..." Eris sighed  
Epyphanises gave her a friendly pat on the back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Razar had heard the whole conversation from his hiding place. He had gotten bored and was about to fly back to the crocs and say that he could find nothing, when Epyphanises promised to meet Eris at the next big Speedorz event and left with a friendly wave. Sure enough, he was headed straight for Mt. Cavora.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epyphanises Flew home quickly, passed Mt. Cavora's shield by flying up through the waterfall,

Note to reader: this only works if you have never used Chi in your life, and intend to do no harm on the inside

And sat down in his cave. He went straight to bed, but lay awake for many hours wondering about Eris.  
She had seemed so weak and helpless, but she had still soldiered on. 'How very typical' He thought with a chuckle, and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Razar was very confused. He had reported all of his findings to the crocodile tribe. He had told them how Epyphanises passed the force field. Razar had told them how they just had to fly up the Chi-falls. He was sure that was the way to enter. The ebony-black raven had even tried it himself, and he had been successful. But when the crocs sent one of their warriors up using a bellow plant, he simply bounced off and sailed towards Spiral Mountain. Furthermore, the crocs refused to pay Razar until he had found the missing warrior, without any assistance! He was very angry. As he arrived at his scrapyard, he asked the other ravens for support, but since he could not make promises of payments, they all refused to help him, so he boarded his heavily modified Vulture class fighter and flew off, muttering to himself how he would get revenge on the crocs for wasting two days of his precious life. TWO WHOLE UNPROFITABLE DAYS! Razar wondered if he should try to get revenge on his own, or find some allies to help him. He knew that the crocs were not the most loved tribe, and felt sure that they had many enemies.

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Laval was sitting on his balcony, engaged in a conversation with Eris. They were discussing how they should react to the croc tribe's latest move. One of the crocs foolishly tried to enter the force field of Mt. Cavora, no doubt to steal Chi. This was obviously an act of aggression towards the peace that surrounded Chima, but the crocodile tribe was refusing to admit that they were behind the attack. They were thinking about how they would get more information out of the crocodile tribe's leaders. Suddenly, Eris spoke up:  
"Maybe we could ask Epyphanises to see what he can find." She did not realize her error until she looked at Laval's shocked facial expression.  
Eris suddenly remembered that she wasn't supposed to know about Epyphanises working as a spy for the lions.  
"Eris! Who is this Epyphanises you are talking about? Never heard of him!" screeched Laval. It was obvious from his voice and how quickly he talked that he was lying. Eris poked his ribs jokingly.  
"You know who I'm talking about, don't you?" she said mockingly. "Tell me, why is it such a secret?"  
Laval sighed and reluctantly whispered:  
"Well, he is one of our best spies, but that is a government secret. How did you find out?"  
Eris dismissed him with a gesture of her claw.  
"Please, Laval. You can't seriously think that you can keep that kind of secret from everyone? Besides, we were friends back in school, until he, you know, left our tribe." Eris looked at her feet, as though she felt it was her fault, but Laval didn't seem to notice.  
"Well, despite how well you know him," Laval mocked, "I'm afraid I must talk to him alone. Meet you on Spiral Mountain when were done."  
Eris nodded and swooped out of the window, heading for Spiral Mountain.

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A pair of watchful, yellow eyes peaked out of a cloud orbiting Mt. Cavora. Razar had decided not to find the missing croc warrior, but to find the secret to the Eagle Mercenary's (and his own, apparently) ability to pass the force field. He packed a lunch for him to eat and waited patiently for Epyphanises to show up.  
Suddenly, he heard a mighty roar. His lion had gotten a bit rusty over the years, but it sounded like Laval was using the amplifier to send a message.  
The raven saw a movement on Mt. Cavora, and this refocused him on his task. Sure enough, there was Epyphanises. He was gliding down to the Chi-fall and then, he let himself drop. He matched his own speed with that of the falling Chi, and slid effortlessly out of the force field, heading for the lion fortress. Razar suddenly got a genius idea! The scheming raven rubbed his hands, giggled and flew back towards the scrapyard. If the crocs couldn't get at the Chi, he could…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epyphanises shook himself in mid-air to rid his feathers of the chi that they had accumulated while he flew through the falls. Then he landed soundlessly on Laval's roof. Suddenly, without warning, his let himself drop onto the balcony.  
"You called?"  
Laval jumped and turned around.  
"Don't sneak up on me like that. I have a task for you eagle. You are still in the business, right?"  
The eagle leaned on the wall.  
"Always" he declared, peeling a piece of food out of his beak with a claw.  
"Well, the crocs have tried to invade Mt. Cavora. They sent a single warrior using a bellow-"  
"Yup. I was there. So what do you want me to do about it?" the eagle interrupted.  
The lion prince rolled his eyes.  
"You know, all this living alone has really had an impact on your manners. Anyway. Your task is to go and see the crocs opinion on the matter. Maybe you can find something we didn't know?"  
"Probably" said Epyphanises, winking.  
He left through the window with a backflip and silently glided towards the croc swamp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eris was already on Spiral Mountain when Laval showed up.  
Laval said: "right, he has been sent to do his job. Now all we can do is wait for news from him. And in the meantime, lets enjoy this awesome sunset."  
They both lay down on the surprisingly comfortable stone, watching the skies to slowly fade from blue to a bright orange, then to a stunning red, and then to black. Eris had fallen asleep on that mountain and when she awoke, found herself in a very different place indeed.

Laval had headed back a few minutes after sundown as he was expected in his castle, and he did not see where Eris went that night.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Eris yawned, stretched and tried to sit up.  
But she could not.  
Confused, she opened her eyes. She was chained to the floor in what appeared to be a scrapyard. 'What are the ravens thinking?' she thought to herself, as she tried furiously to itch her beak with her wing.

"Aah good, my friend, you're awake!" said a familiar voice.  
"Razar? Why would you do this! What could you possibly want from me?"  
"Well, you see Eris, it is not about what I want from you. It is about what I want from your friends." Said the pitch-black raven helpfully.  
"And what might that be?" protested the trapped eagle, still struggling in her chains.  
The raven chuckled: "why, information of course! I believe you are friends with a certain Epyphanises, yes?"  
"What's it to you?"  
"Oh, nonono. You misunderstand again, my friend. This was never about me. You see, I was hired to get this 'information' out of your dear friend. I believe my client wishes to remain anonymous for now. Your friends will come looking for you, and I will be holding all the cards, yes? Oh, us ravens sure love a good interrogation. You will forgive me, yes? After all, I am only doing my job."  
Eris grunted in indignation and glared at Razar, who strolled away, whistling and twirling the keys to the chains. He giggled at how gullible the eagle was.

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A raven messenger by the name of Screech was standing in front of the lion prince's door. He gulped and read his instructions (straight from Razar) one last time, before knocking on the door. They read as follows:

As you are, no doubt, aware, I plan to tap into the Chi reserves of Mt. Cavora. It would be great business if successful and you would get a fair share of the profits, so please do your best. Your instructions, my friend are these:

1. Go to lion tribe.  
2. Say: I have been informed by reliable sources that the croc tribe is holding your friend Eris, for whom you are no doubt searching, yes? I hear the crocs are ruthless, and will do anything to get their information. You should probably go and save her right away.  
3. Ask for a tip.

If successful, the lions should go to attack the crocs, who will, of course, deny everything because they do not have Eris. Hehehe. While the lions are distracted, we will gather the chi and sell it to the other tribes.

Upon receiving the news of Eris' capture, Laval immediately sent for his troops and, together with a large army of tanks and infantry, made his way towards croc swamp.

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Epyphanises was at the swamp when he heard a war party approaching. He flew over discretely to take a look and, upon seeing Laval at the head of the army, dropped from the trees and landed on the front of his lion tank.  
Laval jumped straight into the air.  
"For Chima's sake piff, stop doing that!" he hissed. "so, anything about the attack from the crocs? Because I'm here to wipe the floor with their sorry little scale covered tails. THEY TOOK ERIS!" He roared, but making sure that the crocs would not hear him.  
Epyphanises immediately put on a slightly more serious face.  
"Who told you this?" he asked doubtfully.  
"A raven." Laval growled.  
"Are you serious? You send a war party to hunt down the crocs because A RAVEN told you that they captured Eris? Why didn't you ask me first! I was keeping watch over their swamp, and I did not see them take her. I think that you have been cheated by the ravens." Epyphanises sounded very angry and disappointed.  
"And don't call me Piff." He added.  
That made Laval really lost his temper.  
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? YOU. ARE. A. SPY! NOT THE KING OF THE LION TRIBE! ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME HOW TO ACT? Well, I for one have lost faith in you, and I will be judge of if they have Eris or not. Also, considering the previous job you had, YOU'RE FIRED! And don't expect to be payed either!"  
When Laval had cooled off enough to be able to see his surrounding world, all he saw was Epyphanises leaning on his hammer in a, in the furious lion's eyes, very annoying way.  
"So, Laval, tell me, how many troops did the prince of the lions leave at the temple?"  
But Laval was too enraged to see common sense.  
"Why would I leave troops at the temple when out ONE TRUE ENEMY IS HERE?"  
Laval was on the verge of tearing all of Epyphanises' feathers right out. The way that the eagle managed to remain calm in even the most heated arguments just drove him up the wall.  
"Listen, Laval. I'm sorry, ok? I'll make a deal with you. I go back and check out the raven tribe village, free of charge. That way, we'll stay out of each other's fur for a bit. Seems good?"  
Laval ordered his troops to move on.  
"Whatever, feather-bag."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epyphanises was on his way towards his home to grab his armor (he did not wear it on 'scouting missions' because it was too heavy and loud) when he saw something strange. It appeared that Razar was inside the force field? And raven Warbirds were hovering near the falls? Suddenly, the whole plan dawned on him. "Why, you scheming little-" he screamed as he dive-bombed the nearest Warbird. He smashed a large dent into it with a mighty swing from his hammer, combined with his own gravity and wing power, causing smoke and flames to pour out. The raven, a young looking apprentice, screeched:  
"Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Eagle attack! Eagle attack!" before jumping out of his doomed craft and opening his wings like a parachute. Epyphanises' keen eagle vision allowed him to notice that one of the ships, already heavily laden with Chi, was making a run for it. In a split second decision, he threw 'Mjoelnir', aiming for the starboard engine of the fleeing Warbird. The engine exploded, causing Chi orbs to fall from its back like a mother scorpion's young. A very confused Rogon was showered in the magical globes as he walked through the forest with his new sweetheart.  
But, one Warbird remained and Epyphanises was without a weapon. He gulped heavily, as he prepared for the final fight.


	4. Chapter 4

"Razar! You'll never get away with this!" Shouted Epyphanises, as he landed smoothly on the last Warbird. He ripped open the door and tore the protesting pilot out. With nobody at the helm, the craft immediately plummeted towards the ground, but shortly before it impacted and was smashed into a million pieces, the agile eagle reached for the control stick and pulled it back as hard as he could. The G-forces struck him like a large hammer as he felt the blood flow out of his head. His vision was becoming darker and he heard every beat of his heart as he put all of his strength into ripping the stick back. The Warbird creaked under the immense strain, but managed to somehow hold together. Its claw-like landing gear dug itself into the ground, churning up earth and small rocks, narrowly missing Rogon and Rhibena, shortly before pulling up and soaring back into the sky, trailing small chunks of earth. Epyphanises flew straight ahead for a while to recover from the effects of spontaneous high G-forces. He took a few deep breaths and then turned back. He flipped the thrust control to full and headed towards Mt. Cavora, where Razar was trying to escape.

But Razar had no chance. Even though raven Warbirds (basically just salvaged and restored eagle fighters) were not very fast for fear of falling appart, Epyphanises had no problem outrunning Razar, who was weighed down with a bulging bag of Chi.

"Looks like we're about to have a bird strike", Epyphanises muttered under his breath as he guided his speeding Warbird toward Razar, who was furiously flapping his wings to get away.

The Ebony-black raven, however, was not stupid, and his many years as a "permanent borrower" had given him the ability to work well and think well under stress, so just when he was about to collide with the Warbird he folded his wings and let himself drop.

But Razar never made it very far, because just as he dropped he suddenly found himself caught in a net. Because he remained strangely calm in this situation, he noticed that the net originated from a group of croc infantry led by the evil Crooler herself. That was all he remembered before he hit the ground and passed out.

Epyphanises went into a steep climb, and then reversed his aircraft at a high altitude in an attempt to spot the sneaky raven, but he saw nothing. Realizing that Razar had gotten away, he landed the Warbird and flew back up to Mt. Cavora to retrieve his battle armor, but not before stopping off on the ground to pick up 'Mjoelnir"

Laval arrived at the croc swamp with his army to save Eris (who was, of course, not actually there, but was being held captive by the ravens). He demanded to speak to Cragger who, due to the mysterious absence of his sister, was not under the effect of the persuader plant, so he was in a helpful, cooperative mood.

"Where's Eris?" Laval demanded. The previous situation with Epyphanises left him in a very bad mood.

"woah, woah, calm down Laval. How are we supposed to know where Eris is?"

This question once again moved Laval over the edge. He Attacked Cragger with only his fists, knocking him off his royal throne and onto the muddy floor.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, CRAGGER. You are keeping Eris as a prisoner, to get information out of me. Well it won't work! I have an army in front of the swamp and if you do not surrender Eris to me RIGHT NOW, I will invade your swamp and your little infantry will be able to do NOTHING about it!"

Cragger tried to argue reason into Laval, but the lion would not listen.

After Epyphanises had donned his armor and fallen through the force field, he made his way towards crocodile swamp to inform Laval of how it had only been a raven-engineered plot to steal the Chi. He skimmed the tree tops with his wings, keeping an eye out for a large army.

But he, too, was cut short by a croc net.

Crooler and her infantry detachment entered the swamp through a side entrance straight into the dungeon, where they chained Razar and Epyphanises up next to each other. Then, an old, wise looking croc entered, cleared his throat and started reading a scroll:

"Razar, you are accused of framing the mighty crocodile tribe of kidnapping an eagle so that you could steal chi. for this, you must remain in the dungeon."

Ignoring the raven's protests, he read on:

"Epyphanises, you are accused of - (his eyes narrowed) – knowing too much."

With this, all of the crocs left the dungeon and all that Razar and Epyphanises could hear was Crooler's manic laughter as she pranced up the stairs.

Eris was depressed. She felt very abandoned in the raven scrapyard, buried deep in a pile of junk. She thought that one of her friends would have come by now to save her. Did they no longer care about her? She shuddered when she thought of how much bargaining power Razar had now that he had captured one of Chima's future leaders. The eagle princess could only find comfort in the idea that someone would rescue her soon. Laval maybe? Eris sighed and fell into a light, uncomfortable sleep, hoping for it all to be over soon.


	5. Chapter 5

Deep in the crocodile's darkest dungeon, Epyphanises was slowly being overcome by the feeling of claustrophobia that all eagles experience when they cannot spread their wings. Not only that, but he was getting bored. He finally grew tired of finding an alternative route out of the dungeon, so he admitted to himself that there was only one way: To work together with Razar. Razar actually deserved to rot in this dungeon. After all, he had stolen, or tried to steal, some of the sacred Chi.

Hesitant though he was, Epyphanises' raven instincts for survival kicked in, and he began to feel sympathy for Razar. He was starting to understand why the raven had tried to steal the Chi. After all; life was not truly worth living if you did not make even a small profit. So, he started a conversation with the dark flyer.

"Listen, Razar. I'm sorry I got you into this mess."

"It's OK my friend, I would have done the same thing. Surely, you will receive a generous payment from the lions for your effort, yes?" replied the cunning raven, who had also realized that working together with Epyphanises was the only way out.

The eagle shook his head.

"What does that matter while I'm trapped in here? Well I for one don't want to sit in this stinking death-hole for one more second. I don't even know why I'm in here, but we must work together to get back out. No hard feelings?"

"None whatsoever, my friend." Answered the raven, shaking Epyphanises' hand.

"Great. Then I'm sure I won't be able to remember who tried to steal the chi." The eagle added a wink, and they started working on an escape plan.

Laval had decided that it was in everyone's best interest if he cooled off for a while before confronting Cragger again. He thought about what he was going to say to him, and how he would squeeze the information of Eris' whereabouts out of the crocs. Maybe Epyphanises had been right. Maybe the crocs really had no idea what was going on and it was the raven's fault all along?

Cragger was sitting in his throne, contemplating what Laval had just said to him. He had been a bit shocked at Laval's surprise visit and at how violent the lion prince had been. All the croc could recall was something about Eris being missing. Also, Laval had blamed the crocs on her disappearance, based on the message from a raven…

Cragger realized that it was probably the raven's fault in some way, but he was unsure of how to convince Laval.

That was when Crooler entered.

"Brother." She said in her usual, menacing voice. "I have returned from my gardening trip with some prisoners… I expect you'll be more than happy to see them…"

"Not now, Crooler," answered Cragger, "I'm very busy. It appears that Eris has gone missing. Laval is outside with a large army, and he seems to think we took her. I am about to try to convince him that it was the ravens."

Crooler sulked and exited the room.

Cragger gave the command to open the gates. He had made up a strategy to convince Laval of his innocence. Laval entered, with two bodyguards.

"Laval, I've been thinking, and I believe you and your army should be knocking on the raven's gates, not mine. To prove this to you, I would like to go there now. Just you and me. Who knows, maybe we will find your friend."

Laval reluctantly agreed, but left his army at the swamp, just in case.

It was Razar who came up with a brilliant plan for escape. He had been trapped in the croc dungeons many times before and knew his way around. So they waited for the guard to come, bringing them food and water…

The guard arrived a few hours later. When he brought the required amount of sustenance into the cell, Razar skillfully stole the key from the croc's belt. The guard always carried a spare, so he did not notice its absence, locked the door and walked off. Having freed themselves from their cell, Razar led the way for a handful of hours through various dark pipes and caves, until they found themselves in a large sinkhole.

Glad to be finally able to spread their wings again, the two flew up and surfaced near the raven scrapyard. They were just about to say goodbye when Epyphanises remembered that Laval had said something about a "raven messenger" telling him the news about Eris. He stopped to think for a while. After a few seconds, out of nowhere he asked Razar:

"So, where is Eris anyway?"

"Oh, she's in that pile of merchandise over there" replied Razar casually, not realizing that he just stepped right into the trap, until it was too late. He immediately tried to make a run for it, but Epyphanises held on to his foot and pulled him back down.

"You evil little-" he suddenly realized that Razar had not done this out of anger, or lack of ethics. He simply wanted to make a profit. It did not compute in Razar's raven brain that Eris, or anyone else, might have been hurt, physically or emotionally.

"-Genius." He finished his sentence, letting go of Razar's foot.

But Razar did not try to fly away. Instead, he bowed his head down low and said:

"I understand. I'm sorry for what I did. Even as a raven, I should not put my greed before someone's life. I didn't even make a profit from this whole situation, my friend. You will forgive me, yes?"

Epyphanises sighed and turned away, crossing his arms.

"I shouldn't." he muttered. "But I can't help it. I will try to get you out of this sticky spot as well. I already have a plan. Naturally, I will need to be reimbursed for my actions."

The raven was willing to give almost anything to get out of this tight spot, so he agreed.

Eris threw a pebble at a piece of trash. It made an amusing "ping" sound. She rolled her eyes and turned onto her side, groaning.

Suddenly, she felt like she was being watched. Confused, she turned over and was surprised, and delighted, to see Epyphanises' face.

"Eris! There you are!" he said, looking equally pleased to see her.

"Piff! I'm so happy to see you! Get me out of here pleaaase!" she cried.

"I will, but first you need to make a promise. I am sure you agree with me when I say that I do not want this situation to cause any wars." Said Epyphanises, with a stern expression on his face.

Eris nodded, looking a little puzzled.

"Then, promise that you will not blame the ravens for this. Promise that you will tell everyone that you were just taking a break from boring spire life and slept in the forest for two nights. That should clear up all troubles with Laval. As for the eagles, you'll have to think of something."  
The princess now looked very puzzled, but she agreed. She would agree to anything to get out of here.

"The eagles back at the spire shouldn't be a problem, we are allowed to come and go as we please. And they all know that I am very, umm, adventurous?"

With that, Epyphanises pulled the wreckage aside and, using the key Razar had given him, Unlocked Eris' chains.


	6. Chapter 6

Eris was still a little shaky in the air after being imprisoned for such a long period of time, so she only flew for a short distance, staying inside the scrapyard. By the time Laval and Cragger arrived, she was well rested and had mostly recovered.

Laval saw Eris, and immediately ran to her.

"Eris! You're ok!" he rejoiced.

The eagle took a doubtful look at Epyphanises, and pretended to be surprised.  
"Sure I am, Laval. Why wouldn't I be?" She said, trying to hide the happiness in her voice that she had because she hadn't seen her friends in two days.

Epyphanises filled Laval and Cragger in on the story that he and Eris had agreed on, because Eris was caught in Laval's death hug and had difficulty breathing, much less talking.

The lion replied:

"But- we thought you had been captured! Or worse: killed! You really shouldn't run off like that without telling someone." A tear rolled down his cheek.

Eris just nodded and tried to free herself. Laval broke the death hug, and held onto both of her hands instead.

"Eris, promise me one thing. NEVER, under any circumstances, spend a whole day without anyone knowing where you are ever again. Deal?"

"Sure thing, Laval!" Answered Eris, looking innocent.

That was when Laval noticed the red marks on Eris' wrists. They were unmistakably caused by some kind of handcuffs. He did not understand. Why had Eris been lying to him? But it did not matter to him at that moment.

As Eris looked into his eyes, she noticed him looking at her wrists. His eyes seemed to turn a darker shade of orange and she heard his breathing intensify. She had seen him like this before, and knew all too well how it would end.

"RUUUUN!" she screamed, and Razar seemed willing to oblige.  
Laval was positively frothing at the mouth when he pulled out his sword, charged himself with Chi and, in a state of complete loss of control,  
Threw the sword toward Razar.

Time seemed to slow, and Epyphanises remained strangely calm in this situation. He realized that he had two options. He could let his friend receive the blow, breaking his promise to Razar that he would deal the sticky situation; or he could…

Looking back on his situation from his hospital bed on Eagle Spire, Epyphanises realized that he never really had a choice. He could never have lived with himself if he had broken this promise. Also, Razar was not wearing any armor whereas Epyphanises was, so the flying sword did not do nearly as much damage to him as it would have done to Razar. As it were, He escaped with little more than a flesh wound. He sighed as he remembered the last thing he saw before he blacked out: Eris restraining Laval and trying to talk sense into him. Razar had already fled.

Maybe there is some hope left for this world, Epyphanises thought, as he turned over in his bed and fell into a deep sleep, haunted by nightmares.


	7. Chapter 7

"Epyphanises, is it?" said an Eagle nurse, checking her clipboard. "Apologies for waking you up. You have a visitor waiting outside. Should I tell her to wait for a few minutes, of should I send her in?"

"Sure, send her in," said Epyphanises, not expecting that anyone would want to visit him. He did not have many friends.

In walked a concerned looking Eris, carrying a bouquet of flowers, with two cards attached. She dug her foot into the ground and whispered shyly: "its from Laval and me. He says he's really sorry and that he doesn't know what came over him. He also- you know what, just read the card." She smiled, her cheeks turning a rosy red color.

Epyphanises opened the first card. It read:

To Epyphanises,

I am sorry that I hit my sword. I don't know what possessed me to abandon my common sense like that. I have already made up with Razar.

I hopethat you can forgive me,

Laval

Eris had obviously helped him with his spelling, because judging by his terrible handwriting Laval had never been to any sort of school. Giggling at the Courageous lion prince's obvious shyness, he opened the second card and read its contents, which was written in the most beautiful, swirling handwriting he had seen, well, since high school:

To Piff,

I think what you did out there in the scrapyard was the bravest thing I ever saw. I hope that you recover soon, so that you can do more heroic acts like that one. Please don't be angry with Laval, he was only trying to protect me. I have bought you some flowers, because I think you deserve them, you know, because you were so brave.

Get better soon,

Eris

He was about to tell Eris how she really didn't have to buy him flowers, but when he looked up, she was gone, obviously embarrassed by the situation. Epyphanises shrugged, and asked the nurse if he could have a vase to keep the flowers in, but she had barely had time to bring the vase when Razar entered the room.

"Epyphanises, my friend. You didn't have to do that for me. You know that, yes?

"But I did. I could never have broken a deal like that one. Speaking of which, it was a deal. And deals have two sides. I did say that I might need to be "reimbursed" for my actions. Well, now's the time."

It was safe to say that the raven was not expecting that response, but he quickly recollected himself.

"I understand. What do you need, my friend?"

Epyphanises broke out laughing (despite the strong protests from the nurse).

"Nah, Razz. I'm messing with ya. No big deal. Seriously, you would have done the same for me, right?"

Razar nervously joined in the laughter.  
"Right! Ha-ha! Of course I would!" he said with a final giggle.

Epyphanises didn't have to be a genius to know that Razar was lying, but he didn't let it bother him.

However, Razar quickly changed the topic:

"The docs say you'll be flying again by next week, friend. I suppose you can't wait, yes?"

"Well, I suppose I'll have to." Epyphanises sighed, leaning back in his bed with a heavy sigh.

And, rather fittingly, this story will be taking a one-week break, as I have assessments in school, and won't have enough time to write. I will try to be back as soon as possible. Unless, of course, the next chapter is already uploaded, in which case I was simply too lazy to remove this message (or I forgot, but the laziness is more likely). See ya soon!


	8. Chapter 8

During his week in hospital, Epyphanises was visited much more than he had anticipated. Mainly by a very apologetic Eris, who still somehow blamed herself for the whole occasion, but also by Razar, though his visits would often be filled with an awkward silence. But although none of them spoke, they both understood each other perfectly, because they shared what is known as the "Raven's bond", an almost subconscious link that lets the raven tribe share its opinions with others. Ravens usually use this ability to persuade people to buy their goods of course, but the bond also lets ravens forgive and forget the actions of other ravens alarmingly quickly. This is the reason that Epyphanises did not hate Razar for imprisoning Eris.

Epyphanises woke up, as usual, to the sound of birdsong coming through his open window in the eagle spire hospital. His chest-wound, caused accidentally by Laval, had healed because of the near magical properties of eagle herbs. He stretched his wings and sat up in bed, yawning generously. Today, he was in an unusually good mood, because today he would finally be released from hospital! He closed his eyes and imagined soaring through the cloudless skies of Chima, ducking and weaving through forests and playing swoop-ball (a game which resembles basketball, but in the skies) with his friends.

It was the friendly eagle nurse who had been looking after him for the last couple of days who interrupted his daydreams.

"Epyphanises, are you awake? You have even more visitors! And guess what? They are here to take you out of hospital! Gosh, a week passed so quickly didn't it?"

Epyphanises got out of bed and clumsily walked towards the door. He had not walked much in the last week, only when the nurse wasn't looking, so he still needed to get used to the feeling. The eagle twisted the door handle and opened the heavy oak door. Outside stood Eris, Razar and-

"Oh hi Laval. Haven't seen you all week." Epyphanises remarked casually.

The lion prince had expected Epyphanises to still be angry with him. After all, he had rendered the eagle immobile for a week. He decided to roll with it, not wanting to lose a good friend.

"How's the chest?" he remarked awkwardly.

"Good as new. Those eagle herbs can work quite a few wonders if used correctly." The 3/4 eagle said, as though nothing had ever happened and they were still the best of friends.

Laval had learned from experience over many years of fighting alongside Epyphanises that it was better not to argue with him, so he added no further comment.

Crooler had been trying hard to regain the trust of her brother after the persuader plants lost their effect, and she had finally come up with a plan. She went to see Reegull immediately.

The half-raven half-eagle was toiling over a pot of green goo, which was giving off a horrible stench of rotten eggs when Crooler walked in. He did not turn around to croak:

"I know why you have come, Crooler, o great princess of the croc tribe. You come to ask me if I will create a new kind of chi for you. A-" he paused to laugh manically "-SUPER CHI! Well, the answer is yes, I have always wanted to try it, and now I have someone to blame if it goes wrong, my dreams will finally come true! I mean, I will not be able to create this Super-Chi from scratch, but I can convert Chi. To make it powerful! Unstoppable! You will rule the world! And I will be rich!" he laughed again. Reegull liked to get carried away with ideas of world domination.

Crooler unpacked a ball of pure white chi from her bag.

"Luckily, I have brought this along with me, in case you were uncooperative." She smirked, evilly.

Reegull took the Chi and dropped it in the cauldron of green goo. It immediately started hissing and giving off a dark cloud of noxious fumes.

"Umm, you must inhale these fumes and you will be unstoppable!?" he asked, cautiously.

He took a deep breath. Hmm, how strange. He didn't feel any different.

"You know what, Crooler? Have some of this gold. I wasn't using it anyway. Here! Take this cauldron of gooey stuff. I have no use for it and you can dominate the world now. Would you like me to make you a bagel for your victory celebrations?"

The half-raven asked politely.

Crooler ran. She made sure to hold her breath and she did not stop until she was back in croc swamp. As the princess looked back, she saw a large cloud of the fumes float eerily out of Reegull's hut and towards lion temple.

The group of friends walked outside, chattering peacefully, and headed for Spiral Mountain, as the sun was about to set and that was the best place to watch. The rocks were, as usual, surprisingly comfortable as they lay down, watching first the sunset, then the stars, then the dark grey ominous cloud of- wait what?


	9. Chapter 9

The world seemed to somehow become simpler with every breath that Epyphanises was forced to take from the cloud. His mind used to understand the weather patterns, the reason why his wings worked among many other things. But as he inhaled this weird steamy substance, he lost all interest in, well, complicated stuff. He did not want to spend his time _thinking_. Without deep thoughts, the world seemed so much happier.

He sighed, no longer caring about what in the name of Chima he was inhaling. No longer caring about plans, deals or strategy. No longer caring as much, in fact, for his possessions.

The rest of the group was affected in their own ways, presumably based on what tribe they were from.

Eris, the eagle, seemed to also have turned strangely ignorant towards her surroundings. She laughed, poking the ground with a stick.

Laval, the brave lion, cowered in fear of this cloud under a rocky outcrop.

The selfish raven, Razar, started sharing the contents of his pockets evenly among the group, assuring them that he had no use for the various bits of merchandise.

They sat there for a few hours, Eris and Epyphanises had gotten engaged in a tickle-fight, Laval still did not want to come out of his hiding place and Razar had not finished making equal heaps of junk on the floor.

The cloud, meanwhile, was well underway to cover all of Chima. The most recent tribe to be affected by its personality-reversing effects were the rhinos. They immediately gathered together to think of a plan to rid Chima of this mysterious cloud. They had realised in seconds that they were happier in their, frankly, stupid forms, so they had decided to set matters straight. Their spontaneously created scientists had concluded that the could seemed to be made of a mystical substance known as "Chi-Versal", crafted from Chi and dark magic. The "Council of Action", as they had decided to call those in charge of finding a solution, had figured out that there was probably a book somewhere in the Eagle spire library that knew a cure.

A small party of rhinos, led by the smartest of all, Rogon, had arrived at the spire, only to find, as they had expected, that the Eagles had lost all their intelligence. Rogon noted:

"Look, my fellow Rhinoceroses, The once-wise tribe has lowered themselves to such a level that they have fallen into a lowly play-squabble with books as weaponry! We must act quickly to ensure that nobody is permanently affected!"

After a few hours of scanning various books, reading entire pages in a matter of ten seconds, a rhino had found a way to destroy the Chi-Versal. It was a virus, which only affected the cloud, but would destroy it in a matter of only a few days. The Council of Action made their way into the eagle's research facilities and began mixing chemicals and cloning cells.


	10. Chapter 10

When the rhinos had perfected the virus, and made sure there were no side effects, they decided to borrow some eagle fighters to help spread it around Chima.

Rogon, who had taken Eris' fighter, landed on Spiral Mountain and assessed the situation in his group of friends. He had decided to keep a record of how long it took for the effects to wear off. After a few hours, he decided that Eris had regained enough intelligence to be talked to, and started sharing his results with her.  
"Eris, the fact of the matter is that this cloud is made of a substance called Chi-Versal. It basically reverses the effected creatures personality. This cloud of fumes, you see, seems to have originated from Reegull's hut. It is therefore logically assumed that he is the creator, but we do not yet know who the _contractor_ is. Epyphanises, we were hoping that you'd be able to figure it out *He paused and noted that his own effects were wearing off as well*. You could, you know, persuade him to tell you, maybe. I dunno." He ended his sentence with a short giggle, as he realised that he had no idea what he just said. Laval crawled out from under his shelter and confidently stated:

"I would like to volunteer for Reegull's interrogation. I would like to know why he made fools of us all. Also, he insulted my honour as a lion! We are a proud and noble race, known throughout Chima for being fearless! He will answer for what he did to us."

Razar was busily stuffing his merchandise back into his pockets, and he agreed with Laval's idea.

So Laval, Epyphanises, Eris, Razar and Rogon set off towards the raven village with vengeful looks in their eyes.

When they arrived at Reegull's hut, Laval stomped inside and much angry shouting could be heard. Laval entered twenty minutes later, carrying a struggling Reegull under his arm.

"This little oxygen-thief here says that Crooler was trying to make him create some kind of 'Super Chi'. He accepts no responsibility for anything of course…" Laval grumbled.

Reegull politely asked if the group wanted to try out his latest invention: the bird-bot. When they replied with a unified "NO!" he replied with a smirk:

"Interpreting vague answer as 'yes'. Deploy bird-bots!"

Immediately, three avian-looking robots dropped from the celling. They were about as tall as an eagle or raven, but made completely of metal. As weapons, they wielded big, ugly looking swords, covered with rust and serrated edges.

"Oh, this is NOT good. Run!" screeched Eris. The 4 others were very eager to comply, and tried to flee for the door, but Crooler stepped out of the shadows and blocked their path.

"Surprised?" she asked smugly

Epyphanises groaned and swung back his hammer.

"I'll handle the scaly, you guys go after the birds!"

And the world seemed to fade to slow motion as the two engaged in one on one combat.

The two exchanged blows quickly, but both had trained more in defence than in attack, so they were pretty much evenly matched. They fought circles around various alchemical experiments and it was a miracle that they didn't knock anything over. Epyphanises quickly noticed with a grin that Crooler's footwork was sloppy. She nearly tripped over her tail on several occasions.

Suddenly, after about a minute of close combat, Crooler reached for an orb of Chi and plugged it into her chest. For a moment, there was a burst of red light and flame that seemed to take on the shape of a gigantic crocodile.

Epyphanises started to panic and called for help.

"Anyone? Help! She's plugged a Chi!"

Crooler started to push him back.

Eris skilfully tossed the 3/4 eagle an orb of Chi, which he caught in one hand.

"Eris! I appreciate- the gesture- but I can't use this!"

"What do you mean? Why not?" Eris replied, very confused

"Long story, not much time!" cried Epyphanises, his back nearly against a wall. Crooler's sloppy footwork no longer mattered, as she had cornered Epyphanises and no longer needed to move. But suddenly, one of the bird-bots collapsed to the floor, both its legs were missing. Eris had beaten it in combat and, upon seeing Epyphanises cornered by Crooler, rushed to his aid. She distracted Crooler's sword arm, allowing Epyphanises to swipe her feet away with a skilfully placed blow from his hammer. Crooler lay disarmed and stunned on the floor, moaning and probably suffering from a mild concussion.

The Eagles turned their attention to the bird-bots, which, despite being outnumbered, managed to fair pretty well. One of them managed to obliterate Razar's hook and disarm him, but it was knocked into a cauldron of purple liquid by one of Eris' wings.

The last robotic avian was smashed into a considerably larger amount of pieces as it got hit in the chest by Epyphanises' hammer.

Reegull was nowhere to be seen. He had obviously taken the first good opportunity to flee from a fight, as usual. But Laval still saw this as a victory, and decided that his tribe's honour has been restored.

As the friends headed for the lion temple to enjoy a nice dinner, something was nagging inside Eris' mind. Eh, what would the harm in asking.  
"So, Piff; Do you have enough time now?"

Epyphanises giggled (only Eris was allowed to call him Piff) and asked:  
"for what?"

Eris rolled her eyes.  
"You know, to explain why you wouldn't take that Chi. It doesn't seem to make much sense to me."

Epyphanises sighed.  
"Blame my bloodline, not me. The Lion Laws state that only pureblooded tribesmen or women are allowed to take chi, because the results may be unpredictably. I'm sure you understand how exactly Chi works?"

"Actually, not really. I know that it makes you great in combat, and it just generally improves you, I think. Is that it?"

Epyphanises smiled and said:

"Not far off, actually. It takes your tribe's good qualities and increases their potency. Do you see the problem here? It would have to increase my eagle and raven properties, and apparently the inner struggle caused by this can be fatal. This is known as Chi Incompatibility. Strangely enough, even though it is a huge disadvantage to not be able to plug chi, it seems to also let you surpass the force field around Mt. Cavora. Go figure."

Eris was captivated by this information. She always liked to learn new things, especially about her friends.


	11. Chapter 11

"Furty the fox, my most trusted causer of mayhem." Said Cragger, his eyes red from the effects of one of Crooler's persuader plants.

"I have another mission for you. You must go to the raven scrapyard and tell them the following. Tell nobody else! The payment will be generous. Do we have a deal?"

"Eh, sure, Why not. Had nothing to do anyway." The shifty fox replied.

Cragger leaned forwards and whispered an evil plan into his ear.

Furty smirked and headed for the scrapyard, rubbing his hands in anticipation.

When he arrived, a small group of raven scouts greeted him. He had often worked for the scouts and knew them all by name.

"Friends, there is talk amongst the tribes of a powerful Chi artefact hidden deep in the caves below the Gorge of Eternal Depth. Apparently, it is very powerful, capable of destroying all of Chima, or uniting it, depending on your cause. I'm sure the Lions will pay you a great sum if you tell them…"

the ravens chattered excitedly and headed off towards the Lion Temple, too excited to care about the unreliability of their source.

That evening, Laval was in the falling jungle, testing his reflexes with Epyphanises. They dodged most of the trees, but were pretty bruised when they saw a group of ravens flocking in a clearing, setting up their tents. They walked to greet them, but the ravens seemed to have no time for such formalities. They were all babbling incoherently about some sort of "artefact in a cave". They handed Laval an envelope regarding the details and waited impatiently for him to open it. The lion prince was confused, but he read the contents of the envelope. Or, he tried to. He wasn't the strongest reader at the best of times (he missed most of his school days play fighting with Cragger in the woods), but the raven's handwriting, and spelling, was horrible. He eventually gave up and handed the note to Epyphanises. The eagle's face slowly faded into seriousness and his smile vanished. He explained the situation to Laval. They both agreed that they had to go and find this Artefact.

"If the crocs get this before us…" Laval shuddered.

"We can't let that happen. Let's get your father's permission, and then leave as soon as possible."

Laval nodded, and they set off toward Lion Temple, The lion was riding his Speedor and the eagle was flying as fast as his wings could carry him, but the Falling jungle was far from the Temple, so when they arrived, Epyphanises collapsed on the drawbridge and moaned:

"On second thoughts, lets leave tomorrow."

Lagravis reluctantly agreed to let Laval go on this quest. He informed his allies, reimbursed the ravens, and then readied the supplies Laval would need for this mission. He went through his checklist for the third time:

1. A head torch? √

2. His armour and sword? √

3. A sleeping bag? √

4. Canned food? √

5. Plenty of water? √

6. A couple of Chi orbs? √

Meanwhile, Epyphanises prepared his own equipment. The list was pretty much the same, except, obviously, the Chi. As he flew back down towards the temple, he spotted Eris form above. The eagle swooped down and landed beside her.

"So Eris, are you coming on this mission?" he inquired, hopefully.

Eris grumbled:

"Ewald won't let me. He says that it is too dangerous. Besides. Apparently the lions have got this one handled."

"Wow. That's a shame." Replied Epyphanises, disappointedly.

So, naturally, I'm totally coming with you." Eris added with a smirk.

The next morning, Laval and Epyphanises headed out towards the Fangs. Lagravis wished them luck, and the lion prince held onto the eagle's feet as he lowered him into the Gorge of eternal depth. They both gulped as they entered the mysterious green fog, losing all contact with the outside world. After a while, the fog turned into darkness and all sounds stopped completely. There was a dull thud as the Lion's feet touched the rocky ground. Eris stealthily landed next to them, and they began their never-ending search for the hidden artefact. Every sound made them jump and every shadow seemed alive and hostile…


	12. Chapter 12

There was a dark, thunderous storm over Chima that day. The rain flooded the field outside the lion temple, causing it to turn to sticky, smelling mud.

Lagravis glanced outside and growled. Lions hated water, and rain was made of water. He ordered all lions outside, except the lookout, who had a sheltered position.

After a few hours of waiting for better weather, he grew tired of looking out of his palace window and decided to go up to the lookout's spot and take over for a while.

Minutes passed, but then, suddenly, shapes seemed to move in the fog. At first they were just shadows, but they quickly grew into outlines… of croc attack craft? He sprang up and sounded the alarm.

"Croc attack! Crock attack! Defensive positions!" he roared, sprinting towards the amplifier. He roared louder than he had ever roared before, desperately hoping that the other tribes could help him in this storm. Meanwhile, he prepared his own troops for battle. The rainclouds had drifted northeast toward Eagle Spire, revealing a huge army of crocs and wolves.

Lagravis swallowed heavily, and prepared himself for combat.

In the caves deep beneath the Fangs, Laval, Epyphanises and Eris were creeping through the moist, mouldy air. The only light they got was from Laval's head torch and the Chi orbs in Eris' backpack. Water dripped of stalactites and formed small streams, which seemed to flow endlessly deeper into the seemingly musky catacombs of caves.

Suddenly, the group became aware of a low rumbling sound.

"Maybe a tank is driving overhead?" Laval speculated.

But it seemed to be coming closer at an alarming rate. The ground began to shake and huge cracks appeared in the sides and roofs of the cave, causing small pebbles to fall down like rain. The low rumbling was now a roar, mixed with splashing and gurgling of water. The group ran for cover under a sturdy-looking piece of cave and braced themselves for impact.

The wall of water, presumably caused by the thunderous storm outside, came faster than they had imagined possible. It threw boulders everywhere and caused huge chunks of stone to fall off the roof of the cave. The sound it produced was deafening and, faster than they could say "Chima", they were all knocked unconscious against the side the cave and carried deep into the dark void of the tunnels.

Lagravis and the lions were fighting for their lives by the temple. They had received no help from the eagles, rhinos or gorillas and where now trying to hold off the crocs and wolves alone.

"Is there nobody in this world who we can truly count on?" Lagravis cried, as he rallied what remained of his troops for a last defence. His generals handed out Chi as he spurred them on with promises of being captured forever in the history books by writing a new great legend. But the lions did not take long to figure out that this was a desperate last stand, and that if they did not receive backup, they would never be able to achieve their goal: to protect the sacred Chi.

They boarded Speedorz, tanks and all manner of other vehicles, arming themselves with whatever they could find.

They gunned their engines and, as they charged into the seemingly endless mass of reptile and canine warriors, they did not even hope to drive the invaders away completely. They tried their best to hold them off for as long as possible, but it was uncertain that any help would arrive in time.

Eris groaned. Her entire body was aching and she was sure that more than one of her bones was broken. She also couldn't move, as she seemed to be stuck in something. Wearily, she opened her eyes. Her backpack with the Chi orbs was leaning against a pillar of rock nearby, so she could see reasonably well. But what she saw made her wish that she couldn't. She was trapped in a huge spider web. She had no doubts that it was spun by a member of the spider tribe, one of the three known tribes that lived in the Outlands. The last time she had encountered these guys, well, she preferred not to think about that.

She looked around and saw her friends in similar situations. Laval's head torch had been switched off and dumped on the floor, along with the rest of their gear.

Suddenly a spider jumped from the roof. He was black with a blood red stripe down his middle. He also wore glasses, with eight lenses. He was holding a clipboard in one arm and various horrific looking instruments in the other.

"One of the prisssionersss isss awake…" he hissed. He seemed to have some sort of speech defect.

"My name isss Ssspooler, and I will need to know sssome information… but firssst… allow me to exsssplain the sssituation… you sssee, we have ssseen you down here before, Erisss of the eaglesss… and ever sssincssse you left, we have given up on thisss sssubssstancssse called Chi… but we have alssso become divided, causssing a huge csssivil war… we need to know why you have come, so pleassse, cooperate…"

Eris nodded, surprised that they remembered her.

"Erm.. My reputation precedes me, then? What do you want to know?" she giggled nervously. Ever since she was a chick, she had had a slight fear of spiders.

"Letsss sssee… Do you come down here looking for war?"

Eris replied truthfully that they meant no harm from their visit.

"Then why have you come?" Spooler rasped. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

The eagle explained the situation, but Spooler did not seem satisfied with the answer.

"You exssspect me to buy that? You mussst think thisss isss sssome kind of joke… A hidden Chi artefact? Ssseriousssly? Well, I will make you take it ssseriousssly…"

The spider waved his various tools of torture.

Eris gulped as she noticed a drop of blood pearl off a large, saw-like instrument.

She was very afraid.


	13. Chapter 13

Eris looked anxiously over her shoulder, hoping that one of her friends was coming to save her. But Laval and Epyphanises seemed to be in an even worse position. They were just hanging there in the webs, completely stiff, staring ahead with their mouths open. A steady stream of drool flowed out of Laval's snout. Their eyes were completely white and their limbs twitched occasionally.

"What are you looking at? They are out of the equation!" Spooler assured her, an evil grin spreading across his face as he clicked his mandibles excitedly.

The eagle princess' memories of what happened next were blurred by pain and hopelessness. She did not remember exactly what happened, but she could recall a mental snapshot of the spider standing over her, using his clawed arms to cut her flight feathers, rendering her flightless. This was not painful, but it did take months to heal.

When she awoke, she noticed that patches of her feathers had been pulled out, and she was covered in wounds.

Spooler seemed slightly more satisfied with the story, but he was not yet fully convinced.

"I will keep you here, until you reveal to usss the true reassson of your visssit." He hissed, and then added with a smirk:

"Pleassse, enjoy your ssstay…"

Eris felt very weak and, as much as she tried, could not remain awake. She fell into a state of deep sleep, hoping, like the bears often did, that when she awoke the world would be a better place.

The croc army had encircled Lagravis and his lion warriors. The lion king tried to remain calm as he assessed the situation.

The enemy had three tanks, Cragger's command boat and about twenty warriors.

The lions had three men, including Lagravis. Their Chi reserves had run out and they were all but defenceless.

Just when he had lost all hope, he spotted a flock of what seemed to be ravens approaching from the south. They seemed to be prepared for combat and, surprisingly, opened fire on the crocs! Lagravis was startled, but he kept fighting. Razar, the leader of the REF (Raven Expeditionary Force), landed beside him and handed him a rope.

"Looks like we came just in time, yes?"

The lions climbed up the rope and onto one of the raven's Warbirds. A troop of ravens provided cover fire as the defenders of the temple were lifted to safety.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours of fighting, the crocs and wolves were forced to retreat, exposing the true extent of the destruction. Wrecked vehicles were scattered throughout the field, causing huge plumes of smoke to scar the skies. The casualties on both sides were huge.

Eagles had just arrived on the scene and were carrying wounded warriors of all tribes back to their hospitals.

The Warbird tasked with ferrying the lions to safety landed next to a horrified Ewald.

"Lagravis, what happened here?" he asked in shock.

Lagravis looked at him sternly.

"The crocs and wolves attacked. We could really have used you." He growled.

"I'm sorry but we could not fly. There was a great storm around the spire. We barely heard your call at all. It seems you came out on top?" the eagle leader apologized.

"We would surely have perished if it were not for the ravens. Razar, what made you chose our side? You endangered your warriors to help us."

Razar searched his brain for the right words.  
"Well, Lagravis. A good friend has taught me what it means to be loyal. He made me realise that without friendship, there is only chaos, yes?"

Lagravis was practically wiped off his feet. He was left quite speechless by these humble words, originating from a raven's beak.

"But- what- how?" he whispered in confusion. Then he recollected himself.

"We are all grateful that people still understand the value of friendship. Tell me, who is this 'good friend'? I should like to have a word with them."

The raven prince replied casually:

"Oh, his name is Laval, my friend. I believe you've heard of him, yes?"

Lagravis puffed out his chest. He felt proud to be Laval's father, but he was still very puzzled by the raven's actions.

"Now, to discuss out payment?" Razar continued.

Lagravis roared with laughter. That was more like it.

They walked, or in Lagravis' case limped, into the temple, to discuss what just happened and what they should do to prevent it happening again.

Epyphanises slowly opened his eyes. Eagle eyes were good, but they did not adjust quickly to changes in light levels, so it seemed very dark. He blinked a few times, then tried to rub his eyes, but his arms wouldn't move.

"What the?" he groaned, looking down.

He shrieked, a little more high pitched than he would have liked. He was trapped in a humongous cobweb. He was not scared especially of spiders, but it was still the creepiest thing that had ever happened to him.

Well, except for that time when- anyway, I digress.

His breathing intensified, and he tried to free himself from the sticky trap, but the more he struggled the more he got caught in the web.

The half-breed struggled to remain calm. He was able to see again in the light given off my Eris' chi, so he looked around. Laval and Eris were also trapped in similar cobwebs and there appeared to be nobody else in the cave. Laval seemed completely zoned out, and Eris was hanging limply, her head bowed forwards. At closer inspection, the once-proud eagle was covered in cuts and bruises. Several large batches of her feathers had been plucked out, and her wings had been clipped. Eris looked very weak, and she seemed to be in a lot of pain, but she also appeared to be asleep or, at least, unconscious. He could do nothing for now but wait for destiny to take its cause.


End file.
